Centralia College + Esports
Esports has been on the rise in colleges since 2009 but has seen explosive growth in the last few years, specifically in the college space.
According to an article by the Washington Post, “Between 2010 and 2020, annual game industry revenue grew from $78 billion to $137 billion — more than either Hollywood or the American music industry.”
In only ten years, the gaming industry has grown so much. It is projected to keep growing in the next ten years as well.
Collegiate esports provides students with scholarships and other forms of institutional aid, competition, and job opportunities. Importantly, esports also provides students with a sense of belonging to the college community and the teams they are a part of, a sense of teamwork and excitement about being a member of the campus community.
Jacob Beach is currently the Esports Coordinator and Student Life Advisor at Centralia College (WA). While Beach may be an esports coach now, he has had many years of experience leading up to this role. In fact, Beach’s passion for gaming came at a young age in middle school. Beach would participate in gaming tournaments and hang out at a local venue in California called Howie’s Game Shack.
“[Howie’s] was a really cool place. It had like 30 PCs and 50 Xboxes, all system linked, ready to go. They also hosted hourly Call of Duty tournaments,” said Beach.
The free entry tournaments at Howie’s is what truly struck a chord in Beach and his interest in gaming. According to Beach, he always had a good time when playing different games, but never thought anything past that.
“I was doing these tournaments all of the time. First prize would always get a slice of pizza, a Monster Energy drink, and a t-shirt. I had so many of these from winning that it became an issue,” said Beach.
By winning so many prizes on top of no entry fee, Howie’s had to incorporate a one win a day policy.
“My dad came to pick me up one day, and the shack told me I couldn't play the tournaments anymore. I threw a fit; I called my dad, and he threw a fit too. When [my dad] got there the employee walked him over to my spot and showed him 6 t-shirts sitting there, empty Monster cans and pizza all over the place. One thing led to another, and I ended up playing under an account called Howie's Game Shack on Xbox as a sponsor getting $1 for every hour that I played. That made me realize I'm pretty good at this,” said Beach.
Beach started as a player. He participated in a lot of small local tournaments and a couple of bigger ones. He did not have a ton of success as a player but enough so that he won a lot of money matches which was what he said he was trying to do.
“I realized I was old. So, I started coaching a couple months before Overwatch came out. I was coaching Rocket League, League of Legends, and Quake. I really love coaching,” said Beach.
Beach is now the esports coach for Centralia College. Since being a coach, it has given him a much different insight to the esports world rather than from when he was a player. Beach expressed that over time he has seen many changes arise in the esports field.
“We see with Valorant, in particular, the frequency of female competitive players is blowing out almost any other game. It's really cool to see a couple of female pro-players that are matching the males right now and really setting that precedent. There's no reason [esports] should be a male dominated sport, if you look at the hours consumed via Twitch or YouTube, it is actually skewed towards the female side,” said Beach.
Beach is not the only one who enjoys the game Valorant. Chance Hockette, 18, is currently a member of the Centralia esports team and said he often plays Valorant. Hockette explained that being a part of the team at Centralia is exciting for him because he did not have the opportunity to experience such a team in high school.
“When I found out Centralia College had an esports program I really wanted to look into that and get further into the esports world. I usually game up to 4 hours a day and on practice days, maybe 6,” said Hockettte.
Similar to Beach, Hockette enjoys gaming while also loving the benefits that esports brings. “[Centralia] has a really great community here. Being able to get scholarships and be on a college esports team is really nice because it is definitely something [the team] was missing in our high school lives. Being on the team is a very different atmosphere than just playing for fun,” explained Hockette.
Another great benefit from esports that many people mention is the friendships that are made. Dustin (Cole) Collins, 20, is also a player for the esports team at Centralia. According to Collins, his team is always more than willing to help him and others on the team if needed.
“I used to not want to ask for help and try to do everything myself, but being part of the team has really helped me. Esports itself is like an outlet, because I can’t do regular sports, unfortunately due to my physical disability. [Esports] is the next best thing that I can do to get that athletic passion in,” said Collins.
Beach explained that since being a coach at Centralia he has seen many of his students grow not only in gaming, but also personally. According to Beach, that has been one of the greatest takeaways for him.
“[The students] are super quiet. They go to the first team event and they're super quiet, they don't really talk and their eyes are down. Then after a couple weeks, or a couple of months, they start to blossom. They start talking, interacting and being sociable. All of a sudden they're out talking to people and making friends,” said Beach.
Multiple students on the Centralia Esports team agreed that their time as a member helped shape their confidence. Participating in tournaments definitely sparks that as well. Numerous tournaments have taken place under the National Junior College Athletic Association Esports (NJCAAE). The NJCAAE started in 2019 and Centralia College has been a part of the organization since the beginning.
“I'm really happy to see what they've done so far. [The NJCAAE] listens to feedback, they listen to their members, they do everything the right way. They have transparency and grace. We've been with them from the start and it's been great,” said Beach.
Beach isn’t the only one who gave positive feedback about the NJCAAE, so did his players. “It’s been really hard to get into competitions because of COVID-19 regulations, so I have really enjoyed the online competitions the NJCAAE offers. Having scheduled and well-organized competitions and events has been really nice. They also do a good job at listening to the community. They listen and make changes that benefit everyone,” said Hockette.
What have competitions been like under the NJCAAE?
“From what I’ve seen they have been pretty well organized. I think they’ve been partnering with Generation Esports, which is really helpful on the website side of everything. Getting access to talk to our opponents and their coaches has been pretty easy, as well as finding out match times and scheduling,” explained Hockette.
Centralia College plans to keep competing in NJCAAE tournaments and hopes to have a great upcoming season. Beach and his team are all anticipating what is to come in the future. It is very apparent that esports is on the rise and impacts people in many different ways, for many different reasons.
Is there anything you really want people to know and take away from this?
“I just really hope this gets out to other schools and to parents, so they know that esports is a great industry. You can get scholarships for games for the end of time, because it is a massive industry. My honest thoughts on it, in my nine years' experience, is that the esports market is a bubble, and if the esports bubble does pop, it's still going to be existing in higher ed and you can still get careers in this industry. If you have an interest, pursue it, definitely go for it and finish your degree. And you can get a job in esports,” said Beach.
Until next time,
Mia White
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